There may be no more appropriate place in America to photograph a new Cadillac than a dusty field west of Amarillo, Texas, where 10 considerably older Cadillacs have been standing in the landscape for more than half a century.
So naturally, I drove there.
My Coastal Blue Metallic 2026 Cadillac Optiq Luxury is battery-powered, electronically sophisticated and fresh from one end to the other. Its counterparts at Cadillac Ranch were old, graffiti-covered and buried nose-first in Texas dirt.
The contrast was irresistible.
It also required what became the longest test drive yet in my 11 months reviewing new cars for Denver Post Saturday Drive, roughly 860 miles from Denver to Amarillo and back.
I left Denver around 6am Sunday with the Optiq displaying approximately 303 miles of range on a full charge. I headed south on Interstate 25 through Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Trinidad and over Raton Pass into New Mexico. From Raton, US 64 and US 87 carried me to Amarillo.
The destination was worth every mile.
Cadillac Ranch was created in 1974 by members of the avant-garde art collective Ant Farm, with backing from Amarillo businessman Stanley Marsh 3. Ten Cadillacs, representing successive generations of the marque, were planted nose-first at roughly 60 degrees in a wheat field near old Route 66.
The original artistic idea included illustrating the rise and fall of Cadillac’s extravagant tailfin era.
Then visitors became part of the art.
Spray paint covers virtually every visible inch of the old Cadillacs. Layer upon layer has accumulated as generations of travelers leave names, messages, drawings and occasionally something resembling art.
Into this automotive archaeological site rolled the Optiq, perhaps as good an illustration as any of just how radically Cadillac has improved.
Where those old machines celebrated chrome, tailfins and enormous gasoline engines, the Optiq carries no gasoline at all.
My test vehicle’s optional dual-motor electric all-wheel-drive system produces an estimated 440 horsepower and 498 pound-feet of torque. Cadillac rates this configuration at 303 miles of EPA-estimated range.
And it performed superbly.
Acceleration is immediate, effortless and wonderfully quiet. The Optiq feels substantial without being ponderous and its low center of gravity gives it the planted road manners characteristic of well-engineered EVs.
But this journey also presented the question that inevitably accompanies electric road trips: charging.
I have been driving EVs for six years and have accumulated well over 100,000 electric miles, primarily charging on networks such as Electrify America and ChargePoint, yet I had never used a Tesla Supercharger, until this trip where every charge was at one. And the experience was excellent.
Stations were plentiful along the route, and several locations had 16, 20 or more stalls with only a handful occupied.
After arriving at Cadillac Ranch around late afternoon, taking photographs and enjoying one of America’s truly strange automotive landmarks, I began retracing the same route home toward Colorado.
The Optiq never complained.
Inside, this offered the technology expected from a modern luxury EV, including a 33-inch display, a 19-speaker AKG audio system, fixed glass roof with power shade, heated seats and Cadillac’s Super Cruise hands-free driver-assistance system.
The price also impressed me.
My Optiq Luxury carried an MSRP of $56,520, including destination fees.
Considering its power, luxury equipment, 303-mile AWD range and advanced technology, that number places the Optiq squarely into the increasingly competitive middle of the EV market rather than some exotic electric stratosphere.
But the best thing about this Cadillac may have had nothing to do with horsepower, screens or charging curves.
It took me somewhere.
Road trips have always been about more than transportation. You see towns you have never visited, roads you have never driven and occasionally something completely ridiculous and wonderful, such as 10 old Cadillacs sticking nose-first out of a Texas field.
The electric age doesn’t eliminate that experience, it energizes it.
It simply gives us a new way to get there.
And after parking Cadillac’s newest generation beside some of its most famous ancestors, I couldn’t escape one thought:
The Cadillacs at the Ranch document where the automobile has been.
The Optiq offers a solid look at where its going.
Saturday Drive Specs
Vehicle: 2026 Cadillac Optiq Luxury AWD
Powertrain: Dual electric motors, all-wheel drive
Output: 440 hp, 498 lb-ft of torque, Cadillac-estimated
Charging: NACS port; up to 150-kW DC fast charging
Battery Range: 303 miles (though I easily exceeded that)
Wheels: 20-inch alloy, Pearl Nickel finish
Seating: 5
MSRP as tested: $56,520
Email: timwjacksoncae@gmail.com
Phone: 303-667-3995
The news and editorial staffs of The Denver Post had no role in this postap preparation.
